Box execs danced around questions about targeting specific verticals during BoxWorks last month, but healthcare is one market the growing cloud company appears determined to conquer.

Perhaps it couldn't be more timely given the current state of the federal government too.

The enterprise cloud services provider is introducing a few new initiatives on Wednesday aimed to enable secure sharing and collaboration among physicians, patients, and administrators.

The first move is giving itself a more solid foundation with a partner ecosystem specifically tuned to the healthcare industry.

Box publicly first established its interest in targeting healthcare organizations in April, formally announcing that it is both HIPAA and HITECH-compliant.

That translates to mean that Box’s cloud-based services are compliant with the Department of Health and Human Services' publication of the Omnibus Final Rule in January 2013, which position the platform as a service for securely hosting personal health information and record files.

As of today, Box now has 13 new ecosystem partners covering different bases in healthcare, ranging from digital marketplaces providing quotes for healthcare to electronic health records and imaging services.

Demonstrated in the infographic above, these companies have been set up to be able to share sensitive data and records legally under the aforementioned compliance requirements via Box's cloud.

The second piece of Box's healthcare strategy is a new developer challenge with the end goal of improving patient education, which in turn could reduce costs in healthcare all around if accomplished.

In partnership with nationwide hospital network Dignity Health, developers will be tasked with building applications on Box's platform to come up with schemes to improve upon how doctors and hospitals educate patients already.

The challenge launches today and runs through January 10, 2014. The grand prize consists of a $100,000 convertible note along with one month of office space and mentorship from Silicon Valley venture capital firm The Social+Capital Partnership. The first place winner's app will also be featured in the Box Apps Marketplace and be treated to marketing and sales from Box.

Although it's not guaranteed, the winning app could also be spun into a pilot project at Dignity Health hospitals.